Comparison

Markdown Mermaid vs Orca IDE

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Markdown Mermaid

Features
Read full description

Simple, lightweight and easy to use markdown and mermaid viewer. Use this for reading through documents you download or use a url.

About

Orca IDE

Control your desktop coding environment and AI agent sessions remotely from your iPhone. This app mirrors your terminal, allowing full keyboard input and seamless switching between projects. It ensures all your code and agents remain securely on your desktop.

Highlights
  • Live desktop terminal mirror
  • Full keyboard input
  • Multi-worktree, multi-terminal support
  • Phone-fit zoom and smart keyboard
  • Background command execution
  • End-to-end encrypted pairing
Features
Read full description

Orca Mobile is the companion app for Orca, the open-source agentic coding workspace for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Pair your iPhone to your desktop in seconds and pick up a terminal session from the couch, the kitchen, or across the office. WHAT IT DOES • Live mirror of your desktop terminal, including running AI agent sessions (Claude Code, Codex, custom CLIs). • Full keyboard input — type, tab-complete, Ctrl-C, scroll back, all from the phone. • Multi-worktree, multi-terminal: jump between projects with a tap. • Phone-fit zoom and a smart on-screen keyboard with quick Ctrl/Alt accessory keys and shortcuts. • Background long-running commands and get a notification when a TUI goes idle (e.g. when Claude finishes thinking). HOW IT WORKS Orca Mobile is a thin client. Nothing runs on your phone except the viewer. Your code, your shells, your AI agents — all of that stays on your desktop. The phone shows you what's happening and forwards your keystrokes back over an encrypted local-network connection. Pairing is end-to-end encrypted. Your desktop generates a one-time keypair and shows a QR code; you scan it from the app. After that, all traffic between phone and desktop is sealed with that pair's keys. PRIVACY • No analytics SDK, no crash reporter, no third-party SDKs of any kind in the iOS app. • Pairing tokens and your preference list live in the app's own sandbox. The app's traffic to your desktop is end-to-end encrypted on your local network only. • The Orca desktop app collects anonymized usage metrics per the policy at https://www.onorca.dev/privacy. The mobile app itself does not. • Open source: every line is auditable at https://github.com/stablyai/orca. REQUIREMENTS • An iPhone (iOS 16+) on the same Wi-Fi as your desktop. • The Orca desktop app, free, from https://www.onorca.dev/ or https://github.com/stablyai/orca/releases.

Screenshots

Markdown Mermaid4 screens
Orca IDE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Orca IDE at every 4 days against Markdown Mermaid's every 3 months. Orca IDE also leads on chart position (#21 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Markdown Mermaid ships an update every 3 months, Orca IDE every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Markdown Mermaid versus Orca IDE: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkdown MermaidOrca IDE
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.7 (58 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—85.5% of reviews
Number of ratings—58 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
Best chart rank—#21 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMark DuenasLovecast LLC

In-app purchases

None

Markdown Mermaid

No in-app purchases

None

Orca IDE

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Markdown Mermaid free?
Markdown Mermaid is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Orca IDE free?
Orca IDE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Markdown Mermaid or Orca IDE have ads?
Neither Markdown Mermaid nor Orca IDE shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Markdown Mermaid or Orca IDE?
Markdown Mermaid ships an update every 3 months, and Orca IDE every 4 days. Most recently, Markdown Mermaid was updated on October 28, 2026 and Orca IDE on November 2, 2026.

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